1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of making dresses for women.
In United Kingdom Specification No. 976,307, there is described a method of making foundation garments for women, that is to say skin fitting, body moulding garments. That method does not lend itself to the making of dresses which, in general, are not skin fitting and require to hang on the wearer in stylish and attractive manner. Indeed were dress making attempted by the method of the patent referred to it would be very difficult to produce a garment which flattered the wearer inasmuch as such garment would be required to be close fitting at the waist. The "little black dress" as it is widely referred to and which is not necessarily "black", is a garment which is much sought after because of its suitability for wear on a wide range of occasions. Stocks of such dresses held by retailers are limited and women frequently encounter great difficulty in getting themselves suited when seeking such a dress.
It is accordingly one object of this invention to provide a method of making dresses for women in a large variety of styles. It is a further object to enable attractively fitting dresses to be made from a few measurements of the users and a few details of style required, the measurements and style details being, for example, forwarded by mail order.
The present invention consists in a method of making a dress for a woman comprising by the steps of obtaining from a prospective wearer of said dress circumferential vertically spaced measurements at levels of the bust, the waist and the hips and longitudinal measurements taken from the shoulder to the waist at the rear from the shoulder to the waist over the bust, from the waist to the underbust level, from the waist to the floor and from the waist to a chosen hem level, providing pre-cut panels of from said measurements of prospective wearers dress to be made in a plurality of basic sizes, each basic size being furnished as a plurality of panels of varied lengths and widths and each panel having a circumferentially extending edge for seaming to a corresponding circumferentially extending edge of an adjacent panel which is disposed at a significant spacing from the waist level, utilizing the measurements obtained from a prospective wearer to select for the dress to be made from said panels provided, panels in the correct basic size and of width and length best suited to said obtained measurements, and seaming together said selected panels to form a dress in accordance with said obtained measurements.
Suitably the method of the invention includes utilising at least one of said circumferential and one of said longitudinal measurements to determine the size of each panel of the dress.
Advantageously said longitudinal measurements include a length from waist level to under bust level of the prospective wearer.
In a preferred embodiment each panel has a circumferentially extending edge disposed in the finished dress at the same vertical level and in the range 2" to 5" below the waist.
Preferably, the circumferential measurements include a bust and an underbust measurement and a waist and a hip measurement. Preferably, also, the circumferential measurements include a measurement taken in the range of 2" to 5" below the waist level.
Suitably, the measurements taken are utilised to determine the sizes of three panels comprising the skirt and of three panels forming the bodice part of the dress formed by employing said measurements.
Advantageously, the skirt of the dress is formed from a central front panel and two further panels respectively extending from seams at the upright sides of the central front panel to a centre upright seam at the rear of the skirt. Suitably, the bodice of the dress is formed from a central front panel and two further panels each extending from a shoulder seam and corresponding side seam of the central front panel to an upright centre seam at the rear of the bodice. Suitably, access means such as a sliding clasp fastener are provided in the centre rear or side seam of the bodice and/or the skirt.